


i know the sound of your heart

by ohprongs



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, also high warlock!magnus, downworlder friendships!!, featuring:, good boyfriend!alec, hot mess!magnus, shsummertimefest2016, some other stuff idek this fic ran away from me, the ending is so abrupt im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7626607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohprongs/pseuds/ohprongs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>from the prompt: ‘it’s 2am and i’m drunk and i need some salt for my fries and i know you’re awake so OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR’</p>
            </blockquote>





	i know the sound of your heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lecrit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecrit/gifts).



> written for the shadowhunters summertime gift exchange 2016 - hope you like it @[lecrit](http://lecrit.tumblr.com)!
> 
>  _nb:_ set in a happy alternate timeline where the Ragnor Thing (you know the one i mean) didn’t happen
> 
> title from _the sound_ by the 1975

In all honesty (and Magnus always tried to be honest, apart from lying to protect his reputation, or to impress a client, or to wind someone up, or for the fun of it - so quite a lot of the time, really, but never about the Very Important Things) there was the _smallest_ possibility that Magnus was a little bit pissed.

He tripped over the threshold of his apartment building’s lobby to the cackles of Catarina, Ragnor and Raphael, who were no longer his friends, and flipped them off with one hand. In his other Magnus cradled a box of fries and a bottle of vodka that had less than a finger’s width of liquid left in it, but who was he to waste liquor?

Even when she was pissed, Catarina was the Mom Friend, and she was the one who had made sure that Magnus had gotten back to his apartment block in one piece - though not for some people’s lack of trying. On the way over, that no good rotten Ragnor and his partner in crime Raphael kept encouraging Magnus to skip down the middle of the road singing ‘I don’t know what I’ve been told’, but then a couple of drivers had told him to get out the fucking way and he’d had to return defeatedly to the sidewalk with Cat berating him. 

She’d used a lot of swear words to make a single point, the crux of which was that next time Magnus insisted on travelling like a Mundane and not using a Portal, he could do it sober or he could do it without her knowledge, thank you very much.

Eventually Magnus reached the bottom of the staircase up to his loft without falling flat on his face. Magnus waved at his friends as they left, and sat on the end step for a while, contemplating his life. It was a long time since Magnus had been as drunk as he was now, but currently he wasn’t worrying about how he’d feel later in the morning because he was still in that weightlessly happy stage of drunkenness, and didn’t have to worry about silly things like hangovers. The only thing Magnus _did_ have to worry about was the ridiculously low level of salt on his fries, and he decided to rectify that immediately.

He started the long trek up to his loft, making sure to keep a tight grip around the stair rail because his head was spinning a little bit, but in a good way. 

When he finally got back to his apartment, Magnus hammered on the door with one fist, cupping his box of fries protectively with the other.

“Hello!” he yelled. “Let me in please!”

No response came from the other side, and he rapped his knuckles firmly against the wood again in staccato bursts. 

“Hey!” 

He huffed. In an overly complicated manoeuvre Magnus switched his fries and vodka to the other arm without dropping them, and knocked loudly again with his now free hand. 

“Let me in! Ah fuck, please!”

Magnus let his forehead drop onto the wood and banged it against the door a couple of times, staring down at his shoes. Their metallic blue seemed to catch the light in every direction, throwing off dazzling beams of iridescent silver, and Magnus was momentarily distracted. His shoes just looked so damn pretty, and he snapped a picture of them to send to Alec so he could see how nice they looked.

Then he had an idea, and rang Alec’s phone. Alec could help him get in!

It went to voicemail.

He changed tack and opened Messages again.

To: [Alec]

04:05  alexandr

04: 06 alecxander

04:07 its me ur bf

04:07 love youu

Magnus hiccuped quietly.

To: [Alec]

04:09 helpm e i cant get in

04:10 i cant get intoo my door

04:10 my flat

04:11: the door is locked

04:11 sad face

04:12 :(

He clicked his phone off and tried knocking once more.

“Come on,” he whined. “It’s like two in the morning and I need some salt for my fries and I know you’re awake so, please, _open the fucking d_ -” the door swung open and Magnus pitched forward, having been leaning all his weight against it “- aah!”

He pushed off the firm body he’d fallen against and looked into the bleary hazel eyes of his saviour.

“I love you,” Magnus said honestly.

Alec raised an eyebrow and waved his cell phone in Magnus’ face. 

“I saw.”

Magnus’ face lit up at the picture on display on Alec’s Messages screen. 

“Don’t my shoes look nice?”

“You always look amazing,” Alec said, rubbing at one eye with the heel of his hand, “but it’s like four AM, and I have patrol in the morning, so -”

Magnus frowned. 

“It’s not that late, is it?” he asked.

Alec locked his phone and then showed Magnus the screen. 04:20.

“Lol,” Magnus said, and then Alec snorted.

“Oh my God,” he said, eyebrows knitted in wonderment, “I wish I’d recorded that. Mark the day - March 27, Magnus Bane uses ‘LOL’ unironically.”

“4/20 is funny meme,” Magnus said solemnly, and Alec just shook his head.

“I’m going back to bed."

“No, don’t. I need you to let me in because I need salt.” Magnus put a soothing hand on Alec’s arm. “For my fries, not you. You are salty enough already, angel.”

Alec disregarded the last.

“Magnus,” he said, brow bowed, continuing as if he was speaking to a small child, “I already let you in. You are _in_ your loft. You don’t even lock your door ‘cause of the wards. And even if you had done, you could just -“ he broke off and wiggled his hands in what Magnus thought was, frankly, a terribly poor imitation of himself “- magic it open.”

Magnus thought about this. 

“But that might have scared you,” he said finally. "You know what you’re like - Shadowhunter reflexes and all. If you’d found a strange person in the loft, who knows what could have happened? I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

Alec looked at him like he’d grown another head. 

“You didn’t want to disturb me by turning up in your _own_ loft, so you thought you’d batter the door down instead?” he asked flatly. His arms were crossed and his whole demeanour screamed unimpressed, but his lips were curving up the tiniest bit and Magnus considered this a win. 

“Yes, that’s an accurate summary of the situation,” he said. Really, what Alec had said seemed quite reasonable. “Alexander, can I come in properly? My fries are getting cold.”

Alec rolled his eyes and stood aside. “You have magic,” he said again, half under his breath, “and a microwave.” He walked away from Magnus while muttering to himself, reminding Magnus somewhat of Raphael.

“Thank you!” Magnus called, head tilted in the direction of the bedroom. His bedroom. _Their_ bedroom. Wasn’t that a pleasing thought?

Magnus closed the front door and then placed his bottle of vodka down by it, triple checking that the lid was screwed on because he didn’t want Chairman Meow to start getting ideas. He wandered through to the kitchen, taking a somewhat winding path; he backtracked a couple of times and then started again, trying to walk in line so straight it would convince even Cat that he was sober.

From the corner of his eye he caught Alec watching him with a fond smile, and Magnus turned to look at his boyfriend. 

“What?” he asked defensively, clutching his fries to his chest. 

“Nothing,” said Alec, gazing at Magnus affectionately. “How are you so graceful even when you’re pissed?”

Magnus neglected to tell Alec about the tripping-over-the-threshold incident and flashed his boyfriend a grin.

“One of my many charms,” he said, and then resumed his walk to the kitchen in search of salt. He picked up the shaker triumphantly and sprinkled salt liberally over his fries, then made his way through to the bedroom. 

When he got there, Alec was curled on his side in bed with Chairman in his arms. He was petting the cat absently and his eyes opened slowly when Magnus entered the room. 

(Magnus was trying to be quiet, he really was. But it was hard to co-ordinate yourself when you were not-sober.)

“Go to sleep, my love,” he told Alec, in what he hoped were hushed tones. Magnus placed his fries on his bedside table and then sat on the edge of the bed to take off his shoes. He wriggled out of his ludicrously tight pants and stripped off his shirt, and then snuggled in bed beside Alec.

“Night night,” he whispered, and Alec let out a soft snort in the quiet of the dawn.

“Morning morning,” Alec mumbled, and Magnus definitely did not giggle.

∞

Magnus woke with a groan. 

Something was ricocheting around inside his head and several things had definitely died inside his mouth. He could feel his makeup was smeared around his face and he wanted nothing more than to sleep for another hundred years.

After a few minutes of feeling sorry for himself Magnus rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows. The alarm clock on the bedside unit told him it was around half one in the afternoon. Next to the alarm was a tall glass of water and a packet of make up remover wipes, which had a note left on it:

_Morning Sleeping Beauty,_

_These are for you, hope you don’t feel too rough._

_Let me know when you’re awake!_

_Love you, A x_

Magnus smiled into his pillow, his heart all fluttery. 

He pulled a wipe from the pack and began to clean the make up off his face. A couple of spells later  his headache had gone, and he gulped about half the glass of water down in one go. Magnus rearranged the various cushions on his bed and sat up properly, then looked for his cell phone. Not seeing it in the immediate vicinity, he snapped his fingers and it appeared in his hand. 

He opened his Messages to let Alec know he’d woken up, and then winced, having caught sight of what he’d sent the night before. God, he was a hot mess. 

And Alec loved him anyway.

To: [Alec]

13:42 he liveth

13:42 thank you for the water darling <3

13:43 and sorry about last night! hope you didn’t lose too much sleep :(

From: [Alec]

13:44 glad ur alright

13:44 its ok!!

To: [Alec]

13:46 i’ll make it up to you later ;)

From: [Alec]

13:47 **( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

 

Magnus laughed at the text message. He messed around on his phone for a while, and then began to feel kind of thirsty. As he reached over to pick up the glass of water, he accidentally knocked something off the table. Peering down over the edge of the bed he saw he’d upended a half-finished box of cold fries, and he wrinkled his nose. Why were they there?

As he sank back against the pillows his phone buzzed with a text message from Luke about their plans to create more open communication channels between Downworlders and the appointment of joint ambassadors for warlocks and werewolves. While Magnus was thinking of a reply, a memory filtered into his mind like a welcome breeze through an open window: Magnus and Raphael marching into McDonald’s, having a serious discussion about what size box of fries to get, and Ragnor grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like “bloody Yanks” to anyone who would listen.

Magnus groaned, half laughing to himself about the situations he managed to get into. He finished off his message to Luke and then pulled himself out of bed, almost falling over a pair of his metallic brogues that’d been left in the middle of the floor.

He changed into some casual clothes and brushed his hair, and then padded through to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, Magnus found Alec had left a bowl of pancake batter with another note, and for a moment he was overcome with emotion. It was a long time since someone had _cared_ for him this much, wrapping him up in so much love and affection simply through little domestic intimacies, that he had to rest back against the counter and catch his breath. The depth of Alec’s love was breathtaking. 

Magnus grinned, heart thumping happily, and resolved to make sure the boy was _thoroughly_ appreciated when he returned home later.

After eating a leisurely breakfast and doing a light work out for an hour, Magnus set aside some time to attend to the admin duties of being High Warlock. He made himself comfortable in his study, placing a pot of tea on the mahogany desk and settling into the cosy desk chair. Chairman Meow jumped on his lap and curled up there, purring away while Magnus turned to his first order of business. It was a simple follow up on one of his clients, a young warlock lady who’d just experienced the death of a mortal girlfriend for the first time and was struggling with the prospect of her own immortality. 

Unfortunately Magnus could relate.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Magnus drafted a fire message to send to her, pausing occasionally to sip his tea. Once he’d finished, he started on another letter, this time for the warlocks at the Spiral Labyrinth. To it he attached a report on the strength of the majority of New York’s defensive wards, along with suggestions for improvements, which had been written in collaboration with the High Warlocks of Staten Island and Queens.

Magnus decided to call it quits after three and a half hours, finalising his order for powdered witch-root with a relived sigh and draining his tea cup. He stretched, spine cracking, and pressed a kiss to Chairman’s furry head. 

“Maybe I should hire a PA,” he mused to the cat, and received an unimpressed stare in return. “Mm, maybe you’re right. I guess being a High Warlock can’t be glamorous all the time, or else things might get dull.”

He glanced at his calendar (all appointments written in glitter gel pen) to see what his schedule was like for the following day, and then pushed back from the desk. Magnus picked up the Chairman and cuddled him to his chest, and he had just left his study when he heard the front door close. 

It always made Magnus happy to find his boyfriend had made it home completely devoid of blood and ichor, and he smiled brightly as Alec deposited his bow and quiver by the door. 

“Evening, darling,” he said, wandering over. “Did you have a good day?”

Alec gave Magnus one of those adorable lopsided grins of his and shrugged.

“Yeah. I’m glad to see you’re finally cuddling something worthy,” he said, mystifying Magnus. “This morning it was fries. Now you’ve moved onto cats.”

Magnus rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

“Incorrect. Now I’ve moved onto _Shadowhunters_. Come here.”

Alec stepped forward a couple of paces and wrapped his arms around Magnus, holding him close. Magnus pressed a kiss to the base of Alec’s neck, visible above the collar of his black T-shirt, and then one to the underside of his jaw.

At this, Chairman mewled disgustedly and sprang from Magnus’ arms, which made Magnus chuckle against Alec’s chest, and he could feel the vibrations of Alec’s own laughter. 

“How was your day?” Alec asked a moment later, breaking away from Magnus to sit on the couch and take off his shoes.

Magnus filled Alec in on all the lovely, exciting paperwork he’d done, and Alec in turn recounted the events of his day at the Institute. He was halfway through a story about Izzy and their morning patrol when Magnus set about making dinner, and by the time they’d finished eating they’d moved onto a discussion about which member of the Spice Girls they’d be. Magnus was entirely unconvinced by Alec’s argument, and decided to find a Buzzfeed quiz on the subject to settle the matter.

But first, he told Alec, he had a text message promise from earlier to keep. Magnus plumped down in Alec’s lap, began by kissing him soundly, and then made _more_ than good on his word.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [tumblr](http://lesbianclaryfairchilds.tumblr.com)!


End file.
